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I live in the Staten Island NY. I know it comes down to price. Who knows? WHAT is better Oil or Gas. As the Pro's what do you think. Forced air sustem have oil now.... What would you do get a new oil furnace or switch to gas. I heard many diff. opinions. Oild is messy, Oil is cheaper. Gas is clean, you can have a two stage furnace.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

I'm not sure oil was cheaper last heating season or the up comming one with the price of oil over $50 a barrel. You'll probably gain more efficency with a 2 stage gas furnace since you'll run on low stage most of the winter. But 2 stage units are pricey and are not part of the "free furnace" deals that Con ed or Keyspan advertises. You have to factor in the price of the gas piping work and a flue liner will be mandatory if you don't have one now. An oil fired Thermopride with variable speed fan is top of the line, expensive but should give you over 20 years of service life.

Oil and gas go hand-in-hand pricewise, so when either goes up in price, the other will no doubt follow. A modern oil furnace is not in the least messy, smelly, or in-efficient. An oil furnace is no doubt safer than a gas unit too. Do realize a properly running gas furnace is pouring carbon monoxide in its chimney or vent, a clean oil flame emits next to nothing in monoxide....oil burners emit carbon dioxide instead (what humans exhale). What this means is, if the heat exchanger develops a crack or even worse, the exhaust vents into the home, a gas furnace is deadly. If the same scenario would happen to an oil furnace, the HO notices it immediately, since the exhaust smell on an oil furnace is quite noticeable (same as diesel truck tailpipe). On top of that, an oil leak is unmistakable, a gas leak is downright scary. And finally, a dollar of oil has a substantial amount more BTU than a dollar of gas....so oil is least costly, even factoring in an oil furnace not being as efficient as a gas furnace (2 stage, etc).

Go to the following link to do a fuel cost comparison. Remember fuel oil has more heat per unit than natural gas and propane. So even if gas seems a little cheaper you will need to burn more to get the same amount of heat. http://www.riversidegasandoil.com/fuel_cost_info.htm Hope this helps.

Originally posted by jdenyer Go to the following link to do a fuel cost comparison. Remember fuel oil has more heat per unit than natural gas and propane. So even if gas seems a little cheaper you will need to burn more to get the same amount of heat. http://www.riversidegasandoil.com/fuel_cost_info.htm Hope this helps.

I assume at you location you are talking about piped natural gas, so delivery is not an issue of cost or weather.

Trying to pick what will be the cheapest energy is a crap shoot at best. In our area (PA) about 10 years ago everybody was switching from oil to natural gas because it was quite a bit cheaper. Over the last two years, even with the oil prices, most would like to switch back to oil since gas has become so expensive. There is no reliable way to predict, other than to say both will get more expensive. The one advantage of oil in our area is that you can buy a contract in the summer to get all of your heating season oil at a fixed price. You lock in a price and hope it was a good deal.

Go with what you are comfortable with. Gas can explode, and oil can smell up the place and takes up space in the house. Both can generate heat at high efficiencies.

My Opinion

A Gas Two stage condensing unit #1 Much more efficient 90% Plus and runs on low stage over 80% off the time.#2 Both heat exchangers have life time warranty #3 most condensing furnaces have inducer fan on downstream side of heat exchangers so if there were a failure in heat exchanger it is under negative pressure. #4 Much quieter
than oil.
NOTE: I have no bias do not sell fuel oil or gas but service and install both.
JUST MY OPINION